Weekend in Kentucky...

We got to spend the weekend in Kentucky visiting our family.  It was such a great weekend.  A lot was able to get done at Nan and Pop's house to make life easier for them.  We got to have a fantastic cookout, pool time, hot tub time, s'mores and fireworks celebrating Pop's birthday and William's last brain surgery being done and his stitches being out.

His 1st Actual Weights Tonight…

T has been getting down his form for weightlifting. Tonight his coach did a double step up in weights. He did the starting weight then bumped it up to an actual competition weight. His first weight was black and lighter then his last weight which was green and competition weight = 77 lbs. T is really catching on fast and is loving 🥰 every moment of doing weightlifting 🏋️‍♀️ training. 

His coach is wanting to take him to a “meet up” in October. We’ll find out what those are as we learn this sport…LOL! 

Olympic Weightlifting Training Tonight…

Tonight was T’s first olympic weightlifting training session:

He moved through several levels his first night and the coach is so excited. He’s never had a student do that before. The team was impressed as well. He’s needed this change for a long time. He’s like a fish in water doing weightlifting. It’s like he was born to do it. It was so natural for him. Scot said when he was in the gym all the time that he caught on fast 💨 as well. Like father like son😊. 

T’s goal = USA Weightlifting Nationals June 2024. It’s happening in Pennsylvania. 

The Goal…

The goal ahead for T is to make it to Weightlifting Nationals June 2024. He’s so excited about this journey that he’s starting.  He begins his journey on Monday. USAW = USA Weightlifting. 

Here’s the USAW emblem. 

It’s A “New” Day in the Neal Household…

Two things. First we met with a weightlifting coach tonight that came highly recommended to us. Tim will start with him and the team on Monday. Here’s information about Tim's coach and where he will be training. 

Meet Jarrod Nobbe:

Jarrod is the Head Weightlifting Coach for the Athletic Lab Weightlifting Team.  Jarrod has an MA in Sports Performance and a BS in Exercise Science from Ball State University.  He is a USAW Level 2 Coach and has been recognized as a National Coach through USA Weightlifting.  Additionally, Jarrod holds a CSCS (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist) through NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association), a Level 3 Certified High Performance Coach by the Athletic Lab Coaching Academy, and a CWPC (Certified Weightlifting Performance Coach) and CSNC (Certified Sports Nutrition Coach) through NSPA (National Sports Performance Association).

Prior to joining the Athletic Lab staff, Jarrod coached for 2 years as a Strength & Conditioning Graduate Assistant for Ball State University where he led the strength and conditioning programs for Men's Volleyball, Men's Tennis, Men's Golf & Softball.  More recently, Jarrod served as the Assistant Weightlifting Coach for Force Weightlifting out of Bloomington, IN where he coached Youth, Junior, University, Senior and Master National level athletes.  Notably, Jarrod has coached or assistant coached National Medalists on the Youth, Masters and University (world team member) level.

The Athletic Lab Weightlifting Team is one of the top clubs in the country.  Led by USA Weightlifting National Coach Jarrod Nobbe.  The team offers opportunities for developmental and elite weightlifters.  Our facility is specifically built for weightlifters with 10 dedicated platforms, jerk and pulling blocks and weightlifting specific bumpers and bars.  

Also, tonight we stopped in and had another meeting with Grand Master Lee and Tim is very excited to be returning to Black Belt World (BBW). GMaster Lee specifically expressed to Tim that he wants to get him into the leadership program ASAP.  That made Tim feel so good after all he’s went through since USAT Nationals this year. Shifting gears as we have is going to be a great thing for Tim and we are looking forward to what God has in store for him. This has been a much needed shift. We are feeling like we can breathe again because the pressure of competition TaeKwonDo has been lifted.  Where a door closes God always opens a window😊. I think 🤔 that’s how that saying goes…LOL! At any rate we are in a good place right now and looking forward to what lies ahead. 

Subaru Update…

Well the touch screen in the Subaru that we just bought started going bonkers a couple of weeks ago. Scot researched it and the screen had these bubbles on it where the system thought they were actual touches so it was blipping all over the place. We took it to Subaru and it’s gonna cost us $750 to get it repaired😞🙄😱🤦🏻‍♀️. We are not looking forward to that repair.  It is a known issue and it had an extended warranty on it but that ran out in December of 2022🙄. We are gonna give Subaru of America a call about it and see if we can’t get this fixed without having to pay the $750 since it only has 55,000 miles on it and we just bought not knowing about this issue beforehand. Pray they will work with us and make an exception. 

*Update:  Subaru of America was willing to help us by paying $500 towards the repair of the touch screen.  We were so incredibly thankful that they did that much because they really didn't have to do anything seeing as it's August 2023 and the warranty on it ran out December 2022.  They took into account that we were new owners to the vehicle though.  We were beyond grateful for all that they did.  

Returning to Black Belt World…

We met with Grand Master Jun Lee Wednesday night at Black Belt World and shared with him all that had transpired at Nationals with T’s fight and his coach. We expressed our interest in returning to Black Belt World and continuing his traditional training there. After the meeting we sent an email to Master Doug from Core letting him know we were not going to be returning since our main purpose for being at his dojang was for T to do sparring training and compete and since he told him that he was off the team “permanently” there was no reason for him to return to Core. T can get traditional training closer to home that is way more structured and better. While we hate things had to end the way they did it was completely out of our hands. The coaches mind was made up and there was nothing we could do or say that was going to get him to see things from our point of view. His mind was closed and he gave us no choice but to move on from his dojang. 

When a student is adamantly saying what happened at Nationals was not intentional and the coach chooses to not believe him and punish him as extremely as this coach did there’s no reason to continue with them. A student has to believe in and trust their coach/Master but all trust and faith was lost when Master Doug didn’t believe our son. It also showed T and us that he didn’t believe in him either which was very sad seeing as T had looked up to and respected him as much as he did. Now all that he feels is disappointment and hurt because of him. Being back at Black Belt World will give T the separation that he needs for his heart to heal after being crushed from this coach so that he can continue his Taekwondo training and earn his 4th Dan Master stripe. Grand Master Jun Lee is an amazing Grand Master. He’s someone that T has always been able to look up to with great admiration. He’s looking forward to getting back plugged in and doing leadership as well. We were so glad that Grand Master Jun Lee gave us the go ahead to return last night.  So our future posts will be of our son back at the school that he started his Taekwondo journey at, Black Belt World😊. 

These are old pictures. I think 🤔 they are from October of 2021. 

This last one of him is within this several months. 

T Working with his Dad last Monday…

Forgot to share this of T helping his dad last Monday at the commercial project.  He’s really getting the hang of running the wand that we affectionately call Wanda. 

He’s looking more like a pro all the time. Learning the business and stepping up to help his dad has shown just how much he’s maturing and growing up. So proud of him. He’s such an amazing kid. 

Lunch After Church…

We had Kanki Japanese Steak House for lunch and I was able to get a pic without him squinting. 

T L👀king Good!

The boy cleans up so good. We went to church for the first time since Covid locked us down today. The church we’ve been attending aren’t doing their 11am service anymore so we went to Cross Assembly’s  11am service and really enjoyed it. T knows so many teens his age there. Gonna get him plugged into the Youth Group with them. 

He’s squinting because of the bright sunlight.